Page 1821 - Week 05 - Thursday, 2 April 2009
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settlements in the area, is a very important part of Canberra’s culture and I concur with Ms Hunter’s sentiments about the importance of ensuring the participation of Canberra’s rural villages in our centenary.
But what has the attitude of the Stanhope-Gallagher government been towards Hall? It was interesting that Mr Stanhope spoke at length about his recent meeting with the Hall progress association. Although I was not present at that meeting, the reports that I have received about that meeting have a somewhat different tenor to them and it was put to me that things have got to such a pass with the Stanhope government that they will promise almost anything for Hall, except the one thing that the Hall community want, which is to have their school reopened.
It was interesting that, over the years when the Hall school was there, the Hall parents and friends association begged for a school hall. Now that the school has been closed, the Stanhope-Gallagher government is offering them a hall on the site, which they do not particularly want.
The school closures are at the heart of what the Stanhope government has done to Hall. It is interesting that the Chief Minister said it is not part of the government’s remit to maintain schools as a means of maintaining the viability of business in the area. Quite the contrary! When you look at the Education Act and you look at the decisions that need to be made and the things to be taken into account if you decide to close the school, one of the things that you have to do is look at the economic impact of closing the school. The economic impact of closing the Hall school was substantial and was completely and utterly disregarded by the Stanhope government.
Mr Stanhope: No, it wasn’t.
MRS DUNNE: If you did not disregard it, it was completely and utterly unregarded and considered unimportant.
Mr Stanhope talked about the planning fiasco that is the running sore in the middle of Victoria Street in Hall, an issue which has been going on for some five or six years now. Every time I go to Hall, members of the progress association and other members of the community say, “Vicki, when can we get ACTPLA to fix this up?” This is a disgrace and it lands fairly and squarely at the feet of the Stanhope government. If Mr Stanhope has only just noticed that the government have a planning disaster in the middle of Hall, he has been a very remiss member. The whole process of dealing with this, or not dealing with this, is a considerable matter of contention for Hall.
It is true that Hall is a small village, with less than 0.1 per cent of Canberra’s total population, and it is easy for governments to make callous decisions and take cynical attitudes towards villages like Hall. But Hall village and its people have weathered storms in the past and they will weather this storm as well. They will get over and move on from the money-grabbing planning bungles and callous school closures and will rebuild and revitalise the fabric of their village for the benefit of themselves and the neighbouring areas in both New South Wales and the ACT. It is a shame that the government does not understand the special social and economic needs of small villages and that it has caused them such distress in the last few years.
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